The Dragon Thief

Lo, Skylar named, of royal seed, 

Born a crown of ruthless deed.

Her sire, Augustus, he is cold,

He hunts the eggs to find the gold. 

Ryuki

'You want to tell me what just happened?' I ask Bynjym testily as we fly away from the woman who returned the egg to Ylys.

'We got our queen back. I thought that was obvious,' he says, just as testily.

I know my dragon understands what I'm asking. He's always in my mind. The moment that woman said she could hear Ylys, I knew something was wrong. Ylys wasn't acting like Bynjym did when we bonded. So, this woman, this dragon thief, can hear not just one dragon, but three dragons without being bonded to one? How is that possible?

'She can hear all of us,' Bynjym says softly, as if it will lessen the betrayal of knowing that someone else can hear the dragon who is bonded to me, the dragon that only I should be able to hear.

'It is not a betrayal,' he says.

'You are MY dragon, Bynjym. You bonded with me!' I insist.

'Of course, I am. A dragon can only bond themselves to one human in their lifetime. You know that if you die, I die. That's how the bonding process works. We've been over this, human.'

He always calls me human when he's trying to annoy me or he's irritated with me. Right now, he's irritated. Well, I'm more than irritated.

'What does this mean?'

'I don't know. Ylys doesn't know either, but she accepted that the human could hear her, so we will as well.'

I'm not sure if it makes me feel better or worse that Ylys doesn't know either.

'What was that about her feeling the queen moving in her egg. You seemed shocked, so did the other dragons.'

They'd all begun rumbling in surprise at her words.

'Dragon eggs are hard, harder than stone. Even if Skylar had dropped the egg ...'

'Skylar?' I growl. He's using her name?

'She wouldn't have broken it, even if she'd dropped it. Dragon eggs are made to withstand the growth of a dragon. They are not fragile like other animals' eggs," he continues, ignoring my outrage.

'And?' I ask, not following along with his train of thought.

'Stop being jealous and pay attention, Ryuki,' he says, finally losing his temper with me.

I rein in my frustration, and yes, my jealousy. It never occurred to me that someone could take my dragon from me.

'No one can, not even Sky ... not even that human. Like I said, I don't know what this is, but it's not something that breaks our bond.'

I sigh, taking a couple of deep breaths as Ylys begins her descent into her nesting grounds. I only know where they are because Bynjym has mated her in the past and he came to watch over his eggs and hatchlings. Dragons, even male dragons, are very protective of their young.

Usually, females will only let the father of their eggs approach while she's nesting. But it seems that Ylys is willing to allow the silver dragons to remain near and keep this little queen safe. I'm not sure if it's because the egg isn't hers, or if she's that worried about losing the last queen.

Her nesting area is at the highest point of a tall mountain. The area around her nest is covered in snow, but she blows fire onto her nest, melting the snow around it and heating the rocks before landing and setting the egg onto them.

The silver dragons take positions on the four corners surrounding her nest, acting as sentinels for their two remaining queens.

'Explain it to me again, Bynjym,' I say, forcing myself to remain calm.

Whatever is happening, it's very important. I need to understand it as best I can.

'Have you ever felt an animal move inside stone or a rock, Ryuki?'

'No.'

'Exactly. That human should not have been able to feel our queen inside her egg, especially since she's not ready to hatch.'

I watch as Ylys wraps her body around the egg, protecting it even further.

'What does Ylys think it means?' I ask.

He's quiet a moment.

'She thinks it means the human will become a queen rider,' he says, his voice part awe, part surprise.

'A queen rider? But you said there's never been a queen rider in the history of the dragons.'

'Exactly. That is why Ylys left her alive. Well, that and she is the one who returned Syphy and Yttyc to us in the past, and now she's returned our queen.'

I'd gathered that from the one-sided conversation I could hear. This isn't the first egg this woman has returned.

The silver dragons begin to hum softly, watching over the two dragons, one who is their current mate, and one who could become their mate in the future. Two of these silvers are Ylys' children and can't mate with her. Only Bynjym and Thyyd can mate with Ylys, and Ylys hasn't produced a golden egg in several years according to Bynjym.

It's why the dragons had trumpeted excitedly when Tymyr had laid a golden egg. But now, she's gone. The future of the dragons lies with this little egg in front of me and it seems that even before she's hatched, she's bonded to her human.

I slide off Bynjym's back, holding on to his wing so I don't miss the rock and begin falling off the mountain.

Bynjym snorts. Even if I did fall, I know my dragon would catch me.

'Talk to Soma. I've already talked to Tyffyn. They need more practice,' he says as I begin making my way to where the other dragons and riders are waiting. I don't think anyone will leave Ylys now, but she still won't allow the others to get too close to her or the egg, especially the other females.

That was something else that surprised me. Even though the dragons get along fine when they aren't nesting, females always worry that another female will steal their eggs. Even as a queen, Ylys would worry that a blue or a red would try to steal her eggs. I'm not sure I totally understand the reasoning behind it, but Bynjym and the other dragons accept it as truth, so I do as well. Perhaps in the past, a dragon like Ylys who can no longer produce a queen egg, would try to steal from the nest of another queen. I don't know and since Bynjym isn't inclined to ask Ylys, I'll probably never know.

I walk a couple of miles down the mountain to where the other dragons and riders have settled. As the rider of a silver, I've been given the position of leader of the riders. If another silver bonds to a human, I don't know what that will mean, maybe we'll both be leaders, but for now, I'm the leader.

"Soma ..." I begin as I walk into the area where the riders are making camp for the night, confirming my suspicions that the dragons are going to stay and add another level of protection for their queens.

"I know. Bynjym already talked to Tyffyn."

"And now I'm talking to you as Tyffyn's rider. You put yourself, your dragon, and the entire thunder at risk when you can't stay seated on your dragon. Practice, three hours a day, every day, until you can keep your seat," I say.

"Yes, Ryuki."

"Okay, I have a question. Am I the only one who heard that woman talking to Ylys, Syphy, and Yttyc?"

"Did you ask Jyshy if he could speak to her, Shao?" I ask. Jyshy is a bronze, which makes Shao second in command.

All the riders stare at me, and I see several dragon heads turn in our direction as their riders ask them.

"What the hell?" Mara, a red rider, exclaims. "She can hear ALL of them. Did Bynjym say that, too?"

"Yes," I say, sitting down around the fire.

"What does that mean?" Aris, a green rider, asks.

"According to Bynjym, they don't know, not even Ylys knows. He swore that it won't impact our bonds though," I tell them.

"That's what Jyshy said, too," Shao says.

"What did Bynjym say Ylys thinks this is?" Carme, a blue rider, asks.

"Did you catch the part about the woman feeling the queen moving in the egg?" I ask.

"Yes. Jyshy said she shouldn't have been able to feel a dragon moving inside its egg," Shao says.

"Right," I say, looking at the others. "Ylys thinks the woman might be a queen rider."

"I didn't think there was such a thing as a queen rider," Dion, a green rider, says.

"There never has been, not according to Bynjym," I tell them.

"So, we may have the first ever queen rider, who can talk to all the dragons, and feel a dragon moving in it's egg when she shouldn't be able to, and none of the dragons know what this means?" Elina, a blue rider, asks.

"Pretty much," I say.

However, I do know one thing for sure. If I'm the leader of the riders because I bonded with a silver dragon, then that woman, if she bonds with a queen, will outrank me and become the leader of the riders.

That, more than anything, makes me nervous. We know nothing about her. We don't know what kind of person she is, or if she's a good leader.

'They didn't know that about you either,' Bynjym says.

I turn and look in the direction where my dragon is guarding the queens.

'A dragon always knows. You were a good leader because you were worthy of being my rider. She will be a good leader if she is worthy of being a queen rider.'

I wish I felt the same certainty as my dragon.